StumbleUpon
has carved out a growing niche of devotees and casual users large
enough to draw attention from marketers both big and small. These 10
tips will give you a competitive edge in getting your message out to
StumbleUpon users.
1. Get Involved:
StumbleUpon is a community, so be communal! Join groups,
post reviews, subscribe to fellow stumbler's links, produce a great
profile and keep it updated. In short, make lots of friends, and those
friends will spread the word about you, much like with other social
networking communities. Invite other friends to meet you at SU, too.
2. Send a Variety of Links to your Friends:
Like with Twitter,
don't always talk about yourself. On StumbleUpon, send your friends
cool links you've come across, and drop your own links in the mix at a
rate of about 5% to 10%, or perhaps 1 or 2 times per week. Build a
reputation as a sender of helpful, interesting links and the occasional
links to your sites will have good credibility.
3. Use the StumbleUpon Toolbar:
For starters, this will familiarize you with the community and
how it functions, and your intuitive marketing efforts will be much more
effective. Secondly, it will demonstrate your commitment to the
community and naturally lead to gaining more friends and more interest
in what you have to offer. Similarly to #1, be an insider. All
communities are leery of outsiders.
4. Speak Well of StumbleUpon:
Committed Stumblers are devoted to SU, and when you say things
about it that are nice and natural, and both are important, Stumblers
will naturally look with greater favor upon everything you say or send.
That's human nature. Tap into it and you will succeed.
5. Stumble the Goods:
Link to the specific pages of a site you want to share, not the
homepage. Stumblers don't like digging around on a site to find what you
are referencing any more than you do.
6. Use StumbleUpon to Interest, Not Sell:
A soft-sell approach is the only way to go, since the SU
community doesn't like to be marketed to. This is one of the
foundational principles of combining marketing with social networking.
However, Stumblers enjoy hearing about intriguing sites that offer value
to them in one way or another. Mention your “stuff” and its benefits in
a conversational way, never asking for a sale. This is not traditional
selling! No one will be turned off, and those who are interested will
seek your site to learn more, and possibly convert to customer status.
7. Build SU-Savvy Sites:
This follows from the point above. Create a site
just for your SU community that is rich in value-laden content related
to your products and services, which should certainly be available, but
in a low-hype context. Create the image on the site that its purpose is
to serve the SU community with helpful information and some
products/services that will be of great value.
8. Don't Go Automated:
Automated tools may create short-term success, but since they are
forbidden by StumbleUpon, if you are discovered, you may be banned or
your sites dropped. SU is set up to be organic. Sites promising to
deliver SU traffic to you are likely bogus, or will shortly be banned,
too. It's better for your reputation and long-term success to Stumble by
the rules.
9. Be Respectful of Tags:
Tags are used to indicate areas of interest. Don't shoe-horn your
“stuff” into tag-areas where it doesn't fit. That won't play well, and
will harm your reputation. If you've got a product that offers value to a
large segment of people, there will be tags appropriate to it. You
won't have to manufacture connections.
10. Offer More:
Place RSS subscription buttons before and after your content, and
some casual readers will become regulars and the relationship will
broaden, and possibly deepen, with sales resulting.
Like with all social networking sites, getting involved is the
key to understanding the culture and succeeding within it. These tips
will get you started, and soon you'll be stumbling upon your own keys to
success.
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